


How to Relax in Time and Space

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Planet, Gen, Interplanetary Travel, POV Female Character, Snow and Ice, Vacation, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 19:10:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Clara just wants a break from running, okay? The Doctor knows a place. Or does he?





	How to Relax in Time and Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Takame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takame/gifts).

> This is for sweet and busy Takame, open ear to everything that goes on, drunken ranger to my earnest cleric, and all around awesome person, who got through all exams and has a busy, busy few months ahead of her. Never forget to relax when you can!
> 
> Thank you 3000 to my awesome beta, Lets_call_me_lily!!

The air was so cold that every breath felt like the ice was setting her lungs on fire. Soft snowflakes danced around her in a flurry, got in her eyes, her nose. She breathed some in and coughed so hard it hurt.

“Doctor!” Clara had to shout to be heard over the wind. “I’ll be freezing for sodding days! Whose idea of a vacation is it to set down a lovely girl like me in the middle of a snow storm?”

Keeping up with him while wading through the snow with boots that weren't made for an arctic excursion was hard — but she had learned a thing or two about keeping up with the Doctor over the years. She had once proven she could find him anywhere, scattering herself across space and time, and he'd pulled her back. Who if not her would be able to keep up with him?

She jumped forward to catch up, doing her best not to stumble when she sank up to her thighs in snow.

“Clara, Clara, you wanted some peace and quiet,” the Doctor said. “What's more peaceful than this? No cities. No noise. Don't get cranky in your old age; it's just a bit of snow.”

Having heard that a couple of times before despite her still _young age_, thank you very much Doctor, she rolled her eyes and ignored it. Instead she crossly pointed out: “Bit of snow? I'm up to my boots in it. This is nice, but it's not exactly relaxing. Remember? I said I wanted to _relax_. No running. A vacation. Sun and beaches come to mind. Posh hotels and massages. Not planets covered in ice and snow.”

“That does sound exceptionally boring,” the Doctor concluded. “No wonder you rejected my first suggestion.”

He had suggested a rock concert somewhere at the end of the galaxy, and he'd played her something that sounded like a cross between Death Metal with the tune of Formula 1 cars and lyrics in an alien language that brought Klingons to mind.

“Thank you. Yes, boring. That's the point,” she said. “No excitement. No running from Daleks or Cybermen. No work to do, no...”

“We're here,” the Doctor cut her off. He stepped through a gust of heavy snow and she lost sight of him for a moment. Then he grabbed her and they were moving up a small hill that she had mistaken for a mound of snow and ice.

To her surprise, there was little gazebo at the top of the mound that she would have missed if the Doctor hadn't pointed it out to her. It was white like the snow and seemed to be shaking in the wind.

The Doctor strode right in, swept the snow of a bench with on arm and sat down.

“Sit down.”

She hesitated before she walked over and said: “I know I said I wanted to relax.”

“You did.”

“But freezing isn't exactly...”

“Clara, sit down. It's nearly time.”

She sat, regretting it instantly, when she realized her coat wouldn't do much to keep her warm if she sat here on the half-frozen bench. “Time for what?”

“Be patient. It helps with the relaxation.”

“As if you would know,” she said, dubiously.

Nevertheless she knew when there was no point in trying to argue with the Doctor. Clearly, he had chosen this planet, this spot, for a reason. Now she could only hope he remembered that humans couldn't stand this cold for long.

“When will...?” she started.

“Shh.” He held a finger against his mouth.

She huffed but kept silent, trying to think of a way to get him back to the Tardis that would end in the desired vacation trip without the likes of Daleks blundering in.

Then she heard it.

A soft bell-like sound.

“There,” the Doctor said.

Around them, little lights were rising from the snow — some yellow, some green, blue, violet. They were casting little fireworks of color onto the panes of icy white and suddenly even between the snowflakes the lights were dancing and singing and chiming.

So entranced was she by the sight of it, that for a moment she even forgot the cold.

Then a light flickered around the Doctor and made some clicking sounds that made her think of a huge insect. Yet it was just the little bell-light, shining with an emerald glow.

The Doctor nodded. “We mean no harm. We are only here to observe,” he said.

“What is it?”

“Who are they, you mean. They call themselves —” and here he made a series of the clicking sounds that sounded too complicated for her to even attempt to repeat them. “You might call them ice fairies if you wanted to be quaint.”

“Ice fairies,” she repeated, stunned, as the lights continued to dance and sing.

“More like butterflies maybe. Insects. Very smart though.”

The part of her that clung to the fairy tales and dreams of her childhood thought that little stars had fallen from the sky to dance across the powdery snow. Their song was nothing like the clicking sounds, nothing like the chiming of the bell-like wings she'd heard before. It was harmony and sweetness, wonder and delight made sound.

The wind died down as if the fairies had willed it and their dance slowed, the movements painting rainbows and flowers on every surface. And then... slowly... snowdrop-like flowers of different colors broke through the snow where it wasn’t covering the earth too heavily, and a sweet sound emanated from the plants in answer to the fairy song.

Clara must have been gaping in astonishment. She had never seen anything comparable. She wanted to commit it to memory, carry it with her forever.

“Peaceful, isn't it?” the Doctor asked smugly.

“Yes,” she nodded. “It is very peaceful. Thank you.”

Her fingers were frozen, as was her nose, but when the Doctor asked, “want to head back?” she shook her head.

“A little while longer, please.”

And there was no argument from him.


End file.
